16.03.

1939: Hitler Declares the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia”

A well-known Nazi politician – Baron Konstantin von Neurath, who was previously Foreign minister of the Third Reich – was appointed the head of this new government. Hitler personally visited Prague.

On this day, just one day after Hitler’s occupation of Czech territory, the Nazis in Prague proclaimed the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German: Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren). It was actually Hitler’s way of controlling Czech territory, i.e. an occupation administration of sorts. A well-known Nazi politician – Baron Konstantin von Neurath, who was previously Foreign minister of the Third Reich – was appointed the head of this new government.

Baron Konstantin von Neurath held the title of “Reichsprotektor in Böhmen und Mähren”. Interestingly, the former Czech President Emil Hacha even nominally retained his function, only his title was slightly modified to “státní prezident Protektorátu Čechy a Morava”. But the real power was in the hands of the German “protectors”.

When it turned out that the “Reichsprotektor” von Neurath was being too lenient in his actions, Hitler appointed the notorious SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich as the head of Bohemia and Moravia. Neurath nominally remained Reichsprotektor and Reinhard was appointed as his deputy, i.e. deputy/acting Reich-Protector (Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor). But in reality, Heydrich ruled Bohemia and Moravia like a dictator.